


Like Real People Do

by Ruehyte



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Callum's a softie as usual, Dancing, F/M, Fluff, I love these idiots with all of my goddamn heart, Kinda...theyre disasters, Slow Dancing, rue write something thats not rayllum challenge failed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-08-30
Packaged: 2020-09-30 18:17:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20451485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ruehyte/pseuds/Ruehyte
Summary: “You’ll be better this time, I promise!” Callum’s soft, assuring voice still managed to bounce off of the walls of the ballroom, eventually getting to Rayla’s earshot as the boy continued to spin around in the open space.She still wasn’t convinced.





	Like Real People Do

**Author's Note:**

> Title/Fic itself inspired by/loosely based on 'Like Real People Do,' by Hozier!   
Please for the love of god listen to the lesbian forest spirit man and love him as much as I do PLEASE I BEG

“You’ll be better this time, I promise!” Callum’s soft, assuring voice still managed to bounce off of the walls of the ballroom, eventually getting to Rayla’s earshot as the boy continued to spin around in the open space. 

She still wasn’t convinced.

\---

The two of them had taken advantage of their time alone. But that was what they did anyway, to be fair, any time they had even a minute to themselves to just  _ be, themselves. _

This time around, the royal council were out of the castle- off in a neighbouring town to negotiate supplies and general strategy, (For a member of said council, Callum didn’t pay an awful lot of attention) and so the entire building was rendered almost completely empty, save for an unsuspecting guard or two.

Callum had by some  _ miracle, _ managed to convince the Council in question to let him stay, to, as he put it, ‘man the fort,’ Which basically meant surveying around the outer walls in case of an attack.

And by some miracle, Ezran had allowed it. 

The moment he heard about this, Callum jumped into action, and yanked Rayla out of her room- their room, really. Rayla questioned his enthusiasm for the entire trek around the castle, but the eager human in front of her had refused to answer any of her queries. 

So she had no idea where she was being dragged off to, basically. 

The closer they got, the more lenient Callum became, and the more questions he answered willingly. He had explained the situation almost in its entirety, through his over-eager pants from running down corridor after corridor. Rayla couldn’t help but smile at his antics as they ran through to the room he was so excited to get to.

Almost immediately after they had arrived, Callum let go of her hand, and spun dramatically around the ballroom. She admired it- the sheer vastness of it- for a moment, before she was dragged into the center, being pulled around clumsily against her better judgement.

\---

"I won' be, Callum." Rayla protested weakly, even though she found herself struggling to stop swaying dramatically along with him, to no rhythm whatsoever.

Callum just scoffed at her answer. "Why not? You're acting like you were horrendous at the ball." He grinned, remembering her near fatal attempt at forming a steady rhythm, one to match his during the main event of the night.

Though, he couldn't exactly laugh. He wasn't even great himself, and he had been going to events like that since he could walk. And, for most of those earlier ones, he'd been dancing on his mother's feet while she graced along effortlessly, as she always seemed to do.

So he wasn't exactly an expert.

The elf narrowed her eyes at him. "'Cause I  _ was. _ " She grumbled. "Las' night was humiliatin', absolutely mortifyin'." She cringed at even the memory of her stepping on her boyfriends feet every three seconds, and bumping into him for the other two in between.

She had no idea how to be like him, how to be 'princely,' or formal, in the slightest. She was an assassin, or more, she had been trained as one, and she'd never had to worry about acting ladylike, or attending balls or formal gatherings. That was his thing- and even he hated it. She could see that in his face every time they went to one, the way this eyes lost their curious glint every time she’d steal a glance in his direction. Whether that be from the teenage girls that seemed to swarm around him that made him visibly uncomfortable, or just simply the prospect of being in the large hall, crammed to the brim with members of the town, she didn’t know. But she could sense his unease.   
  


"I can teach you, then!" Callum smiled warmly, stopping their movements and holding her hands in his own. "I'm no master, but I can help you learn the basics." He dropped her hands, stepping back far enough to allow him to bow in front of her. A hand stretched out to the elf, and that twinkle was back in Callum’s eye when he glanced up, mouth quirking up further at the corners.

"Only if you'd like me to, of course."

Rayla nodded shyly in response.

Half of her actually did want to learn to dance, she did, she promised. But the other half simply wanted to savour the patient looks on Callum’s face, the calming tone of his voice when he told her she was fine for messing up- because hey, she most certainly would, in fact, mess up. She was Rayla, and this was slow-dancing. Words that were better off not being in the same sentence, if one could help it.

However, despite this, she hummed in confirmation all the same, almost breathing out a laugh at the enthusiasm of the boy in front of her.

Once she realised that said dumb human was staring at her, his flushed cheeks puffed out in mild concern, Rayla smiled fondly again, reiterating her point. “Yeah. Yeah, I'd like that.”

She took his hand, which he instantly clutched in his own, whisking her into the middle of the candle-lit hall.

Callum’s hands moved from Rayla’s own to her sides, smiling to himself when he felt the action send a shiver running down across her body.

“Now, you put your hands on my shoulders.” He hummed with that faint smile he constantly wore, which made Rayla’s face flush more than she’d care to admit, despite having been expecting it to make an appearance.

She did as she was told, draping her arms loosely over his shoulders, and watching Callum’s face flush when it pulled them closer against each other. Her fingers instinctively wound up playing with the ends of his hair, because she was evil, which made the both of them giggle lightly. 

“Okay, now,” The boy stared down at his hands as they brushed over Rayla’s hips, taking a second to properly formulate his plan of action before going ahead and carrying it out. When he glanced back up, he put on a smile, feigning his confidence in this area of concern. 

“Take one step this way- yeah, like that.” As she did it, his smile grew slightly, and he swung them a little more dramatically. When the sudden movement caused Rayla to lose her balance, he pulled her in closer to him, the hands on her sides wrapping closely around her waist. “Careful!” He grinned teasingly. Rayla simply narrowed her eyes and gave a tiny, unintimidating growl, unimpressed.

“Your fault.”

“I know, I’m sorry. Anyway, step this way?”

\---

It had been a while- twenty minutes? Half an hour? Callum couldn’t tell. All he knew for certain, was that had it not been for the candle arrangements above their heads, he wouldn't be able to see the elf trying her best in front of him- that, actually, and the fact that Rayla was slower at picking this up than he thought she would be.

She was getting there, don’t get him wrong. But it was a slow process.

“I’m impressed, clumsy prince.” Rayla was grinning, her face as warm as the candles dimly lit the ballroom. The sun had gone down completely at this point, the moonlight poking through the large windows being drowned out by said candles. “Yer better at this than ya give yerself credit for.”

The two were only swaying around, but Callum was slowly but surely working in some footwork, letting Rayla adjust to the new movements before taking them to full speed, and twirling her around. Normally, his attempts to do this were in vain, and Rayla would turn around in the other direction that his arm was trying to pull her, but it simply made the two of them laugh- Callum, moreso than his struggling girlfriend, who always threw a small remark at him when he tripped up. 

“I’m really not that good.” The prince sighed with a smile, his hands draping over her shoulders as she muttered something to counteract his point, nails poking teasingly against his hips.

At one point, she’d switched their positions so that she was leading, soft hands pressed against his sides as his fell to her shoulders. Which, Callum supposed, wasn’t the worst outcome. It made teaching Rayla the actual steps of the dance more difficult , but all the same, it allowed him to gaze up at her fondly as she stared at their feet, trying to follow his instructions as he gave them without tripping either of them up. 

And honestly? She was moving smoother than she had been, so he couldn’t fault her there.

He had to admire her determination, if anything, to make progress in this. Rayla was stubborn, as she so often was, and even after almost tumbling to the ground once or twice, and hitting against a wall more times than he could count, she kept going. Kept asking if she was doing it right or if her hands were in the right place, and it made Callum’s hear soar every time she’d glance up at him, lip caught between her fangs. It was safe to say she was getting better, from that. 

“You  _ are,  _ honestly, I don’ know how ya do this.” She muttered as they slowed, turning around at the corner of the hall and continuing to sidestep ungracefully around the room. Her eyes flicked up in what very well could’ve been disbelief or insecurity, and she tilted her head. “Am I even doin’ this right?” She asked, again.

Callum simply chuckled airily to himself, twirling the both of them around once. “Yes, Rayls, you’re doing it right, I promise.” He assured, one of the hands around Rayla’s shoulders reaching up to cup her face as they swayed. “You’re actually picking it up really quickly.” He gazed at her as he spoke, eyes only growing more fond as Rayla’s widened in his direction, an eyebrow raising.

“Are you sayin’ yer surprised?” She mocked offence, despite there being a tiny hint of sincerity in her tone. 

Callum’s jaw almost dropped. “No! No, not at all,” he sputtered, hands coming down to clutch at her shoulders instead of being draped across them. “It’s just not an easy thing to pick up, that’s all-”

The elf snickered, pulling him in by the waist and pressing a kiss to his cheek when the sudden sound of her laugh cut off his train of thought. “M’ only teasin’, Callum.” She grinned smugly, holding him close. “No need for panic.” Callum, as she knew he would, simply went into more of a state of worry.

“I knew that!”

“Sure ya did.”

The human simply squeaked, pulling back from the embrace Rayla had locked him in. “I just wanted to make sure I hadn’t made you self conscious or-” 

“It was a  _ joke, _ worried prince, I promise.” She smiled. “I know what ya meant.” 

The two of them stopped in the middle of the ballroom for a moment, so that Rayla could move her hands away from Callum’s sides, and trace them up to his face, cupping his stupidly soft cheeks and squishing them together the slightest bit between her palms.

That seemed to settle the boy’s nerves, luckily. 

Callum smiled as best as he could in Rayla’s hold, forcing back a giggle as he leant against her hands. “Okay.” He breathed, audibly glad that he hadn’t messed up, that he’d over thought it. The elf gazing fondly down at him helped this- but most certainly  _ didn’t  _ help the steadily rising blush heating his face up. He knew she knew, he could see her grin widen at it. He pouted. “I got worried, okay?”

Rayla snickered softly at that, face hiding in Callum’s shoulders for a moment before poking back up, tiny freckles glinting in the dim room. 

“I know ya did, I know.” She tried not to laugh, purely at how cute his expression was between her hands as he stuck his bottom lip out, humming in protest. Rayla leant in and pressed a kiss to the tip of his nose, which made Callum giggle- the sound so soft Rayla thought she might keel over and die.

She let her hands fall, after a second, finally letting the poor thing go. Callum took that as an opportunity, as he tended to do, and lightly gripped her sides. 

“My turn.” He mumbled, smiling at Rayla as her face flushed at the comment. She nodded not long after, and slung her arms over his shoulders, hands locking together behind his neck as he sent them spinning off again.

They had better finesse, this time, twirling around the room with a surprising amount of grace for two clumsy teenagers who had absolutely no clue what they were doing. But of course, this victory had to be short lived, because they were exactly that. Clumsy teenagers.

Rayla was still laughing to herself at Callum’s flushed cheeks as he lead them around the room, and lost her footing in the process. Her leg got tangled with Callum’s and, despite their hefty combined efforts to stay on their feet, they went crashing onto the wooden floorboards with a loud thud, echoing throughout the hall.

Callum landed on Rayla’s chest, glancing up to her for a moment in sheer shock. “You...” 

Then they both started laughing. Softly, quietly at first, but then Callum snorted, and Rayla lost it, shoving her head against the floor and letting out a cackle. “Yeah, I don’ think I’m getting better.”

But Callum was willing to be optimistic. He stared over at Rayla, taking a few moments to admire her as she wheezed, and smiled wide. 

“There’s always a next time, Rayls.”


End file.
